Railroad-car ladder.



D. R. MAOBAIN- RAILROAD CAR. LADDER. APPLICATION FILED MAR.5, 1912.

Patented Nov. 5, 1912 2 SHEETS BHEET 1.

I INVENTOR WJTNESSES Attorney D. R. MAOBAIN.

RAILROAD GAR LADDER.

APPLICATION nun mum, 1912.

Patented Nov. 5, 1912.

2 SEEETS-SHEET 2.

[80 11v VENTOR 4QM0 Q Q7 I V Altorngy5 !i["NESSES ww/ M DONALB R.IMIAGBAIN, OF CLEVELAND; {BI-HQ.

l'tAILRGAD-CAR LADDER.

1 State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful lnuirovements inRailroad-Car Ladders, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to provide an inexpensive and efficientladder which can be easily and quickly applied to new or old equipment,to comply with recent requirements of the safety appliance law and notnecessitate expensive alterations in present construction of car bodies.

The special advantages I claim for my improved ladder of constructionand elimination of a large number of boltsusually employed in securingladders of present construction to the car; also to provide an easymeans of re moval and application of the ladder for repairs withoutentering a loaded car or seriously delaying the same when in transit, afew minutes only being required to apply a new ladder to a car on arailroad having these ladders in stock at repair points.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a railroad car bodybroken away, showing my improved ladder secured to the side and to theend of the car body; Fig. 2 is a perspective'view of the ladder; Figs. 3and 4 are perspective views of the lower supporting bracket; Figs. 5 and6 are perspective views of the upper supporting bracket; Fig. 7' is abottom plan view of the.-

upper supporting bracket; and Fig". 8 is a top plan view showing anotherembodiment of my invention.

1 represents the stiles of the ladder, which for purposes ofillustration 1" have shown as being constructed of angle iron, thisbeing a structural shape giving maximum strength and minimum weight. Therungs 2 are preferably riveted to the stiles, thus completing theladder. Each stile is provided with bolt openings 3 and 4, but as willbe hereinafter pointed out, the bolt openings 4 are not necessary.

The lower supporting bracket comprises a permanent spacing bar 5 at eachend of which is formed bearing faces 6 and 7 terminating at the bottomin ledges 8 and 9 on which ledges the ends of the'ladder stiles havevertical abutment. The spacing bar is are its extreme simplicity.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed March 5,-1912. Serial No. 681.83%.

l l l l I l Patented Nov. 5, i912.

provided with openings 10 and 11 through- Which bolts or lag screws passto' secure the bracket to the car body; the position of this bracketbeing near the bottom of the car body as shown in the drawings. Thewalls or bearlng; faces 7 are each provided with a bolt opening 13.While I have shown. the spacmg bar bowed out to prevent the lodgment ofsnow, ice and cinders, it will of course, be

understood that this is not essential to the s-uccesstul operation of myinvention.

The upper siuaportmg bracket comprises a spacing bar 1% and pockets 1-5at each end of the spacing bar which are open at one side and at thebottom, The top wall of each pocket is provided with an orifice 16,through which the upper ends of the stiles 1 may pass, shown in thedrawing. The pockets are provided with bolt openings 17 which register,in some instances, with the bolt-opening 4 in the ladder stiles 1. Thespacing bar is provided with openings 18 through which bolts or lagscrews may pass to secure the bracket to the car body. This upperbracket, as shown, is secured to the car body just below the eaves.noted that in the drawings the orificeld is of the same shape as thecross section of the ladder stiles.

The upper and lower brackets are secured to the car in the positionsshown in the drawing. The ladder may be secured to the car by onestanding on the ground by elevating it until the upper ends of thestiles are inserted in the pockets 15 of the upper It will be,

bracket, whereupon the lower ends of the stiles are pressed against thebearing faces 6 and 7 or the lower bracket with theend faces of thestiles resting upon the ledges 8 and 9 which afford vertical abutmentfor the stiles. The lower ends of the stiles are then bolted to thebracket 5 against displacement. The weight of a man ascending the ladderpractically all sustained by the ledges 8 and 9, therefore it is notabsolutely necessary to insert bolts in the upper ends of the stiles tothe upper bracket as the stiles are confined in the pockets 15 and thusheld against transverse movement. Thus it will be seen that after thebrackets are on, a new ladder may be substituted for a damaged ladder bysimply removing the two bolts holding the ladder to the lower bracketand that this may be done by one standing on the ground. The barportions 5 and 14 of the brackets constitute permanent spacing means forthe pockets and for the ladder stiles. The purpose of the orificeslG inthe upper brackets is to allow the upper ends of the ladder stiles topass through the bracket, thus permitting some reasonable variation inthe height of cars being equipped with the same standard length ofladder. In this event, the bolt holes in the pockets of theupper'bracket and in the upper ends of the ladder stiles need not beused.

While I have shown the spacing bars 5 and 14: as integral with theladder stile pockets and bearing surfaces, it will be understood that Imay lilVG the bar connection separately fitted to the pockets andbearingv surfaces as shown in 8, wherein 19 are the pockets or bearingsurfaces and 20 the spacing bar. These are joined together by the boltsor lag screws 21 which secure the bracket in its entirety to the carbody.

I claim 1. The combination with a railroad car, of an upper supportingbracket secured to the outside of the'car body adjacent to its top, a.ladder comprising stiles with a plurality of rungs connected at theirends with said stiles, a. lower supporting bracket secured to theoutside of car body adjacent to 3 its botton'i, the lower portions ofladder stiles removably engaging with ends of said lower supportingbracket, the ends of ladder stiles resting upon supporting ledgesprojecting from walls of said lower bracket and bolt holes in andadjacent to lower ends of stiles registering with bolt holes in wallsofbracket and bolts passing through said holes I for securing lower endsof ladder stiles to i lower supporting bracket. 2. An upper bracket fora car ladder comprising a. spacing bar, rectangular pockets l at eachend of the bar having top and side 5 walls but no bottom wall, saidwalls constituting vertical bearing faces, the top wall lhaving anL-shaped orifice through which the end of a ladder stile may pass. t Acar ladder bracket comprising a l spacing bar, vertical bearing faces atright 5 angles to each other at each end of the bar, and horizontallydisposed ledges extending from the base of said faces and at rightangles thereto and constituting vertical abutments for a ladder. t. Thecombination with a. railroad car, of an upper supporting bracket securedto l the outside of the car body adjacentto its top, a ladder comprisingangle iron stiles l with a. plurality of rungs connected thereto, and alower ladder supporting bracket secured to the outside of the car bodyadjacent to its bottom and comprising a spacing bar, j vertical bearingfaces at right angles to each i other at each end of the bar againstwhich 1 the stiles of the ladder bear, and horizonl tally disposedledges extending from the said bearing faces constituting vertical abutments for the lower ends of the ladder stiles. The foregoingspecification signed at New York this 13th day of Feby., 1912.

DONALD E. MAOBAIN.

In presence of James A. FLEMING, CHAS Gr. R-ENWlOK.

